On January 17, 2008, the European Audiovisual Observatory announced that it has added several new user functions to its database on legal information relevant to the audiovisual sector in Europe - IRIS MERLIN. This free-access database contains over 4,000 articles on the latest legal developments in the media field. These articles describe relevant laws, decisions of various courts and administrative authorities, and policy documents from 58 countries. They also report on legal instruments, decisions and policy documents of major European and international institutions.

According to the press release, IRIS MERLIN is searchable by such criteria as key topics, country or the name of the issuing organization of a text. In order to make this invaluable research tool more user-friendly, a ‘basket' function has been added which allows users to stock all the articles of interest to them in their user's basket. IRIS MERLIN users can then export all the articles free of charge together into a single WORD document or, alternatively, to a single PDF document by clicking on the relevant icon in the basket area.

Susanne Nikoltchev, Head of the Observatory's Department for legal information which regularly updates the IRIS MERLIN database said that “these new user facilities have, in effect, turbocharged what was already a very powerful legal research tool for anyone writing about the audiovisual industries in Europe.”